måndag 14 november 2016

Every so often I have had a scrap with organists and choir leaders who insist on making us sing Gregorian chant from scores in modern notation. Our choir was once invited to sing in a broadcast concert from the Brighton Festival. The scores, of familiar music, were handed out, but we found them confusing, and asked for them in Gregorian notation that we were used to, with the groups of notes shown by signs called neumes (upper line). These were gladly provided, but the concert director expressed surprise that anyone was still using them.

Sometimes the dispute gets acrimonious. One choir director poked fun at the idea that anyone should even raise the matter, and said it was a fuss about nothing. To her credit, she later became convinced, started to go on courses at Solemnes and is now an Associate of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambrige.

The situation is particularly entrenched here in Sweden, paradoxically, because church musicians are well-qualified; there is an abundance of
talented singers, but their background is mostly Lutheran. They have no
roots in the Catholic musical tradition. Naturally enough, they find the Gregorian neume system unfamiliar and off-putting. Since there is almost nobody still around who was brought up in the Catholic tradition and could pass it on to them, there is resistance against changing to the authentic notation. As a result, although there is a reasonable selection of the Latin Gregorian chants included in the national hymn book, Cecilia, they have been printed in a five-line notation with stemless filled oblique oval notes (lower illustration).

It was not until Guido d̈́'Arezzo invented the Gregorian staff notation at the start of the eleventh century that it was even possible to indicate pitch in written form. But even today, it is said that the chant of the church is not part of the soul until it has been learned by heart. Jewish boys still learn to chant scripture readings from the Torah by heart, there being no musical notations, or even vowels, on the texts hand-written on the parchment scroll.

For non-musicians, or for children or beginners, the Gregorian notation is easier to grasp. Compare the two selections of the same score - the Kyrie of Mass I (Lux et Origo) at the top of this blog. The Gregorian neumes are an analog representation of the musical phrases, as well as being a diagram of the movement that the choir director's hand should make. That is not all. To anyone who has gained even a little experience, the distinctive pattern of the neume groupings make it immediately recognisable as belonging to the Mass Lux et Origo. Thus, even if you cannot sight-read off the page, the pattern of notes acts an aide memoire to anyone who as already learnt it, which is something that the amorphous line of floating dots in the Cecilia rendering cannot do.

There is more. The neumes are a
guide to the phrasing. Small details in the notation - liquescent notes, for instance, make for subtlety in the sound. A further advantage is that the Gregorian system
keeps the words together so that they can still be read, instead of
breaking the text up into spread-out syllables which become meaningless
in any language (see illustration).

Given that the text has the priority in chant, this
combination of neumes and text layout leads to a markedly higher
standard of singing, noticeably so even to the listener. I would go so far as to say that the modern notation destroys the very concept of the music as chanted sacred
text used as prayer.

There are also practical advantages for the singers. The four-line Gregorian notation does not indicate an absolute pitch. The choice of pitch can be left to the singers; this is of course a nuisance for the accompanist, who has to transpose, which may be one reason for the preference for modern notation.

The Gregorian system also has the benefit of being more compact. The same amount of text and music takes up less space, so it can either be printed in larger type eg 12 point instead of 10 point, or in a smaller (and less expensive) book. For most people over the age of forty, bigger is better. There is a cognitive advantage as well: it is easier to see what is happening when there are only four lines instead of five: 25% easier. There is solid scientific evidence on this subject, which has been done, amongst other things, in connection with aircraft instrument dials, since these can be safety-critical. Worse still, the tonal range of the music does not fit the tonal range of the stave: the two upper lines are almost never used but a ledger line is usually required.

All of these factors make the chant more accessible to non-musicians. We should remember that Gregorian chant is not music for performance; it is prayer. Even a choir rehearsal session is a period of prayer. The music is not the preserve of musicians but belongs to the people. I have been singing in church for over forty years I would not describe myself as a singer, let alone a musician. But then Gregorian chant was not, in the first place, written for singers. Like most people, I cannot read music straight off the page in any format. I have to memorise the tunes, which I can do reasonably well. That is what people have been doing since the dawn of human history. Indeed, the ability to learn a tune is not even a specifically human attribute, since birds and many other mammals are proficient at the task.

For non-musicians the barrier is reading music in any shape or form. For beginners, the Gregorian system is easier, for the reasons mentioned above. Since this music is for everyone, the way to get people singing is to start them off with that which is within their ability and connects them not only to the ancient tradition of the Catholic Church but to the Jewish tradition from which it comes. For more proficient musicians, familiarity with the authentic neume notation will not only transform the quality of the sound, but also provide access to the vast stock of ancient music written in that notation, which otherwise would need to be transcribed, with the inevitable loss in subtleties which that leads to.

It is important therefore, that scores in neume notation should be made available for congregations and choirs, both for Gregorian settings in the vernacular and for the original Latin. As far as the latter is concerned, most of the music required for congregational singing in a Catholic parish is included in the inexpensive (€12 with discounts for bulk purchase) Solemnes publication Liber Cantualis; a book of organ accompaniments is available go with it.

If the Gregorian system of notation is a barrier for musicians here in Sweden, this needs to change. Anyone with aspirations to becoming a serious church musician ought to be familiar with it.

fredag 4 november 2016

Bishop William Kenney, the Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham and former assistant bishop in Sweden, has been making statements about the practicability of inter-communion between Catholics and the Swedish Lutheran church.

I am no expert on these matters, to put it mildly, but I have always assumed that when one receives communion, one does so on the clear understanding that one accepts the teaching of the Catholic church on the subject ie that, as the Council of Trent declared"in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue"

Trent further added that anyone who "saith, that, in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denieth that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood - the species only of the bread and wine remaining - which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation, let him be anathema."
So far as I am aware, this teaching remains valid. It follows automatically that the Eucharist must be consecrated by a validly ordained Catholic priest.

Inter-communion is not inter-communion if it does not operate in both directions. That in turn implies recognition of the validity of Lutheran ordinations, which include women priests. But the Pope himself re-iterated on his journey back from Sweden, that the Catholic church would never ordain women, thereby reaffirming that the church does not believe it has the power to ordain women.

This means that though a woman may have been the subject of the rites of priestly ordination, that she may not thereby have become a priest, and consequently may not possess the power to carry out the Eucharstic consecration and that the elements cannot be guaranteed to be the Body and Blood of Christ.

torsdag 3 november 2016

Catholic music is, like Jewish music, written for a text in a sacred
language. It is typically melismatic, and modal ie not in the major or
minor keys; the latter correspond respectively to the Ionian and Aeolian
modes, about which Plato had pronounced and unflattering
views.

Following the Reformation, a body of music was produced
with the specific intention of being NOT-Catholic. These are hymns
written for vernacular texts, in a major or minor key, and it is not
melismatic but has, typically, one note per syllable. It has a
completely different effect on the listener. It arises from a different
spirituality.

Bach's church music, such as the cantatas,
compilations of cantatas, and organ pieces incorporates Lutheran hymn
tunes such as Wachet auf, Eine feste burg (used in Mendelsson's
Reformation symphony), Nun danket alle Gott, etc. There is, of course Bach the B-Minor Mass, but it would be extremely unusual to use that setting liturgically.

Mixing music based on Lutheran themes into a
Catholic liturgy creates an unhappy and incoherent blend from both a
stylistic and spiritual aspect; think of pouring Vindaloo sauce on
sushi.

The above comments apply to some extent to organ music when much of this, too, is based on Lutheran themes, and there is another point. There is plenty of Catholic organ music of the finest quality, written on Catholic
liturgical themes, which gets squeezed out by the Protestant composers. It deserves performance and is in keeping with the
style and spirituality of Gregorian chant. Too much of it is neglected - Frescobaldi, Muffat, Couperin,
de Grigny, Duruffle, Messaien. There will always be plenty of opportunity to listen to Bach and Buxtehude at concerts or on the radio or in
recordings. It is interesting that at the London Oratory, who set the standard in these matters, Bach is played regularly at Vespers but scarcely at Mass.

What about Mozart or Haydn, whose music is not modal? The line is not a hard and fast one. From the beginning of the eighteenth century and through to the start of the twentieth, European music was generally written in a major or minor key. The key point is "typically modal and melismatic", and of course there are exceptions. A musical setting for a Latin Mass text is obviously Catholic music.

Aside from settings for the Ordinary of the Mass, the
sort of music that composers write is naturally going to be influenced
by the composers' spiritual orientation, consciously or otherwise. The
Lutheran and Calvinist composers of the immediate post-Reformation
period were consciously striving to produce music which reflected their
theology and attitudes. These were redefining their understanding of the
Christian faith in a new and different way. The music was written to
promote that aim.

Later Protestant music reflects the subsequent
developments - the High Church Anglican music of the seventeenth
century, the Nonconformism of the eighteenth, the Oxford movement of the
mid-nineteeth and the muscular Christianity of the British Imperial
period.

Another issue is the practical one regarding its place in
the Mass. Protestant hymns normally find their way into the Mass as
replacements for parts of the Proper - ie the Introit, Offertory and
Communion antiphons. These form part of the reading. There are specific
instructions about this in the General Instruction for the Roman Missal.

there
are four options...

the antiphon from The Roman Missal or the Psalm
from the Roman Gradual as set to music there or in another musical
setting;

the seasonal antiphon and Psalm of the Simple Gradual;

a
song from another collection of psalms and antiphons, approved by the
Conference of Bishops or the diocesan Bishop, including psalms arranged
in responsorial or metrical forms;

a suitable liturgical song
similarly approved by the Conference of Bishops or the diocesan Bishop.

Thus,
the use of hymns of any kind is a last choice. An important reason for
the first choice is that these pieces, in particular, the Introit, are
set to music which indicates the church seasons and feast days, acting
as a signature tune setting the theme of the Mass. After a couple of
years, people get to recognise the music, which is particularly
important for children growing up in the faith. It is not a good thing
if this music is squeezed out, which is what happens almost universally.

As
a practical matter, congregational hymns do not work well at the
Offertory or Communion as at both times they are sitting, kneeling,
looking for change to put in the collection or queueing for communion.

onsdag 2 november 2016

I have to be careful what I commit myself to these days; I can end up having nothing to eat apart from the rice cakes and tinned mackerel which I keep with me as a standby in case the food on offer is unsuitable. Consequently I was unable to attend the Pope's visit to Malmö.

The Catholic Mass at Malmö was an afterthought. The original plans for the visit did not include anything much for the Swedish Catholics, since the visit was to commemorate 500 years of the Reformation. The Mass was held out of doors in a football stadium, which was unsuitable for an event in Sweden in November. It also involved leaving at 03.30 for a start at 09.30.

From one point of view, the liturgy, however, being substantially in Latin, really could not be faulted. The commentator was excellent and gave a detailed explanation for what non-Catholics might find difficult to understand, cued by a co-broadcaster to put the questions to her.

The choice of music was, in part, entirely suitable and familiar to everyone in the multi-national congregation: Missa de Angelis (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus), Credo III, Mysterium fidei, Pater Noster. That was was a particularly happy choice, especially in the light of the TV commentator's explanation: that the church uses Latin as a universal and unifying language unconnected to any particular nation or ethnic group. Surprisingly, at least one priest who usually takes a strong anti-Latin stance, said afterwards how delighted he was that Latin had made it possible to celebrate the Mass together with the Pope.

Taken as a whole, on the other hand, the musical selection was weird, verging on perverse, especially in the light of what the TV commentator herself had explained about the use of Latin. There were newish pieces of poor quality, with melodies that would be more suitable as accompaniments to advertisements for margarine or cars. There were a couple of nineteenth century Anglican pieces which would have been fine for an English Choral Evensong but were out of place here. There were a couple of Lutheran hymns from the seventeenth century Swedish Empire period of Gustav II Adolf. Thus, the Proper for All Saints' Day was squeezed out. There was nothing - not even the easily sung Introit Gaudeamus omnes in Domino.

Nor were heard any of the compositions that would be expected for a visit from the Pope and which would be a useful addition to the musicians' repertoire - such as Tu es Petrus, not necessarily the well-known Palestrina setting, but others, possibly the Duruffle, Byrd or Victoria compositions.

Clearly this was unintentional, but that does not alter the fact that the overall impression was that the music was for some reason meant to be non-Catholic. The fact that there was some Latin just led to an overall sense of incoherence.

This peculiar choice was the responsibility of the diocese, where there is evidently little sense of, and feeling for, the Catholic musical tradition.

The Lund cathedral service was something else again. It was a strange, cobbled-together happening with no obvious rhyme or reason. If it had been an Anglican celebration it could have been framed as a Choral Evensong; the Swedish church apparently does not have such a thing, but it might on the other hand followed the format of Vespers, with some intercessions. As it was, the service was neither fish nor fowl and lacked coherence

Taking one thing with another, the Mass at Malmö was a memorable day for those with the stamina to attend. The Lund event, however, has produced a confused reaction all-round, especially taken in conjunction with the Pope's comments in the plane on the way home. The Swedish Catholic bishop, who appeared on television with the Lady Archbishop of Uppsala, head of the Swedish National Church, was visibly embarrassed by questions which he could not answer without causing an upset.

At best, the visit will make no lasting impression. The Lutheran church of Sweden will continue its decline, whilst the Catholics, far from the influence of Rome, can continue to try to maintain and build on Catholic tradition. But the diocese of Stockholm needs to get a grip on its music. At present, it is as if the curators of a gallery full of medieval and renaissance art treasures had locked them in the basement and put a collection of popular posters on display instead.